High School Reunion Gig Review

Yesterday I played at a 10 Year High School reunion up in Long Valley, NJ. It was in a brew pub called the Long Valley Pub & Brewery. The drive was scenic, through the farm land on Route 517 on winding roads. The load-in was a bit difficult.... through the restaurant and then up a long flight of stairs. Upstairs was like a big rectangle with an opening in the center, looking down onto the first floor bar. The ceilings were high and pitched and the walls of stone. There was a bar on the frontside of the second floor. I was directly across the room in a rather thin channel, but projecting the music straight at the heavily populated bar. The sides of the room had tables for eating and quiet conversations. Space was sparse and there were numerous wooden beams to navigate, but we finally situated the video screen on one of the sides of the room, safely in the corner.

The DVD presentation was excellent. Great flow, nice music mix. It looked very colorful and clear on the big screen. One of their classmates was killed in an auto accident at the age of 21 after graduation, leaving behind a wife and infant child. There was a nice in memoriam section in the video, and some of his relatives were in attendance.

Earlier in the evening, with the restaurant patrons downstairs enjoying their meals, the music had to be kept lower volume. Earlier in the evening I played lots of period pieces - Alanis Morrisette, Blues Traveller, Hootie & Blowfish, Ace of Base, Spice Girls, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, C&C Music Factory, Technotronic and Real McCoy. One of the most eclectic requests of the evening was "Far Behind" by Candlebox... I have this CD, but never had a request for it!

The bulk of the guests came in a bus, so if you guessed that there would be some heavy drinking, you'd be correct. That bar remained the focal point for the remainder of the evening, and I tilted the musical program towards the hip hop - dance party.... then with the late night rock n' roll sing-along. The second to last song of the evening, which was wildly successful, was "Just a Lil Bit" by 50 Cent. Then I closed with "Times of Your Life". I received a nice tip and used part of it to get some assistance taking the speakers down the stairs.

Somebody from the downstairs bar paid me $10 to play that "Pee Wee Herman" song; of course, "Tequila." I obliged, and later found out that it was some inside joke against the downstairs bartender who bore a striking resemblance to Pee Wee, aka the disgraced Paul Reubens.